beaver round me would think that white pvc was some fresh birch i'm thinking. i will be trying different forms of this next month and a half..usually i'm a snare down a hole with bogs of fresh small birch branches kinda guy. but anxious to try this swinging 330 set.

I've caught alot of beaver in snares ,330 den enterences, baited footholds and on and on,but when the ice gets thick the best way is 330 baited with a couple small poplar sticks attached to the spring ,not the trigger, bait on the bottem, trigger just above the bait.Useing the swinging set,I have few misses the beaver moves in going forward grabs the bait continues to swim forward and finds himself square in the trap.I,m sure the pvc is good to but I would't put it on the trigger but on the lower spring loop.

Big fin would it looks something like this? I actually turned the one trip wire outward on both sides to help them tripping it on arrival.

On my otter traps and beaver bait sets that might not get hit regularly I have fun putting electric wires on them. I cover and insulate well to keep the ice picking to a min. The trap when fires breaks the continuity on the wire that sticks up above my insulation and makes for a quick check.

This set I had high hopes for. However it did not produce. I like the visibility of the white plastic bags as they stayed nice and white and were easy to apply. Can't help but think it would work elsewhere. I would love some critique on this set. Usually it is set the same way but with the cottonwood scraped up white in the same place. Snares have just been a hit and miss deal for me under the ice compared to conibears.

Edited by Family Trapper (12/25/1005:43 PM)

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Passion- There are some people who live in a dream world, and their are some who face reality; and then there are those who turn one into the other.

Well kinda I only hang the trap by one spring and the bait tied to the spring but still between the jaws on the loop witch closses the jaws.I'll be gettin after some beaver later in the winter and will try that snare set looks good to me.Some of my ponds have really dark water and I like the bag idea. Oh yea anouther thing dont just lay the cross stick on the ice, build it up some or flag them somehow a little snow or overflow and there hard to find sometimes.

I don't use coni's much under the ice. snares are so much easierwhen trapping under ice. but i did take one this year with a Belisle 330. Hung it off both springs with wire. a real narrow exit where they were coming out from under the ice to cut feedwood. I've used the swinging 330 set now and then and see no problems. I usually set the trigger to the side a bit so as to have them a little deeper into the trap when it springs.The one foot catch is a bit of a mystery as the set was tight against two rocks and not much water. Still he must have tried to go around. Good ole Belisles! .

A guy don't want to "squeeze" the beaver through the hole useing conni's, a buddy and I got one by the tail and it slipped off, the buddy grabbed it as it was going back down and we took turns holding it under water while the other picked the whole bigger, fun fun fun!!

(Pull outs verse knocked down snares) I went back and forth trying different sized cable, locks. loop size, and cable type-1x19-and 7x7. I had settled on 1x16th -1x19 thinking the stiffer cable would hold a better loop and give a better chance of a beaver getting in the loop. I had numerous pull out. Cable out straight with the lock closed,-"Till" I listened to a local long line trapper Jerry Braley who uses alot of snares, and even catches many otter in these beaver snares. He uses nothing but the 7x7-1/16th cable, and the 1/16 th Cam Loc. (Made from a 42 inch cable)He mentioned catching beaver by the toes. That was something I hadn't done. (Had Caught them by the front foot, teeth, nose,tail, but never the toes)For sure I have nocked down snares, now that I use his type of snare, but very few have the lock closed tight.I checked one set up yesterday and had two small beaver out of 4 sets. The first set was up abainst a bank with the feed pile on the other side. Both these snares were knocked down, I think? the beaver traveling down to the dam, or around the pile ran the bottom and hit the snares but were too low to get caught ( About 2-1/2-3ft of water).I added two snares under the first set. --Maybe I'll have 4 knocked down to reset next time?One of those small beaver was on a like set with two layers of snares and did get caught In the bottom two snares. We have to be 10ft from a beaver house here, and It's possible he was coming out of the house and hit the loop.Darcy Alkerton a well known Canadian trapper uses 1x19 cable. He catches a pile of beaver in snares. He used to post on trapperman, Not sure if he still does.

i am by no means an expert but i set 2 layers of snares in between the top and bottom set of snares i put a 14" dead branch this aids in holding up the bottom snare. also diverts them i think.i had my best luck and less knocked down snares with this

I think the baited conibear is my least favorite underice set. Conibears are best suited for runs. We use snares and footholds for baited sets. We also have tried all the cables and the 7X7 1/16th seems to be the best. We use mostly cam locks but the microlock has performed well. I would think you alaskans would use footholds under ice. They are deadly. Here are a few pics of the setup. Some of you may have seen these before.

Quaking aspen is our preferred bait. Top of bait is only 6 inches under the ice. All beaver caught by left foot. I think they press their back on the ice to work the bait. The stand or "chair" holding the 14 also provides eye apeal. My trapping partner can make this set as quick as I can make a snare set. He has caught thousands of beaver with this set. Also uses the 14 on a leaning pole with aspen brush for bait. I will try and find some pics.

Rally Hess is a pretty prominent beaver trapper on here and I think that is just what he said to me. He is really great to talk to if you want info on beaver snaring. He said Go limber on the 7by 7 and you will start picking up a lot more incidental catches, feet, tails that would be a miss a lot of times. I am going to steer him on to this thread as I think he could bring some valuable info.

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Passion- There are some people who live in a dream world, and their are some who face reality; and then there are those who turn one into the other.

Foot holds just look like a lot of fooling around to me. Especially with thick ice, a guy would have to get the angle just right and usually it's not possible to see that far into the water. I've never tried it though.